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Support For ObamaCare Reaches New Low
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| Dolores Berk, right, of Philadelphia, and others protest outside a fundraiser for Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa. attended by President Barack Obama at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Sept. 15. (Matt Rourke/Associated Press) |
By Bradley Vasoli, The Bulletin
A new poll by Rasmussen Reports finds that President Barack Obama’s plan to take America’s health-care system in an even more statist direction has less support now than ever before.
According to Rasmussen’s survey results, only 41 percent of American voters want the reforms backed by Mr. Obama and his allies in Congress to be enacted. Fifty-six percent now say they want lawmakers to drop the proposal.
But when the polling firm measured intensity of feeling on both sides of the debate, matters appeared much more lopsided in favor of those who dislike the president’s plan. Forty-three percent of voters are “strongly opposed” to Mr. Obama’s favored reforms while only 23 percent of all voters are strongly supportive.
There appears to be little optimism regarding the effect American voters predict the reforms will have on the country’s health-care system. Fifty-five percent say they think the president’s ideas will worsen the system’s problems while 24 percent say they expect they will improve health-care quality and mitigate costs.
As with may other issues, health-care reform reveals an electorate more conservative among the elderly and more liberal among the young. Only 33 percent of senior citizens voiced their support for the plan, while 59 percent voiced opposition.
Elderly voters tend to support expansions of entitlements and massive new regulatory schemes with less enthusiasm than younger voters do. But this particular proposal might also lose some support due to $123 billion in proposed cuts to Medicare that would help pay for it.
Mr. Obama and congressional Democrats are losing support for their proposed expansion of government regulation and provision of health care among key constituencies. An unsurprising 79 percent of Republicans say they don’t want it enacted, but so do 72 percent of the crucial voters who do not affiliate with a political party. Also, while the plan is often billed as a major advantage for the uninsured, only 58 percent of voters without coverage support enacting it.
Bradley Vasoli can be reached at bvasoli@thebulletin.us
According to Rasmussen’s survey results, only 41 percent of American voters want the reforms backed by Mr. Obama and his allies in Congress to be enacted. Fifty-six percent now say they want lawmakers to drop the proposal.
But when the polling firm measured intensity of feeling on both sides of the debate, matters appeared much more lopsided in favor of those who dislike the president’s plan. Forty-three percent of voters are “strongly opposed” to Mr. Obama’s favored reforms while only 23 percent of all voters are strongly supportive.
There appears to be little optimism regarding the effect American voters predict the reforms will have on the country’s health-care system. Fifty-five percent say they think the president’s ideas will worsen the system’s problems while 24 percent say they expect they will improve health-care quality and mitigate costs.
As with may other issues, health-care reform reveals an electorate more conservative among the elderly and more liberal among the young. Only 33 percent of senior citizens voiced their support for the plan, while 59 percent voiced opposition.
Elderly voters tend to support expansions of entitlements and massive new regulatory schemes with less enthusiasm than younger voters do. But this particular proposal might also lose some support due to $123 billion in proposed cuts to Medicare that would help pay for it.
Mr. Obama and congressional Democrats are losing support for their proposed expansion of government regulation and provision of health care among key constituencies. An unsurprising 79 percent of Republicans say they don’t want it enacted, but so do 72 percent of the crucial voters who do not affiliate with a political party. Also, while the plan is often billed as a major advantage for the uninsured, only 58 percent of voters without coverage support enacting it.
Bradley Vasoli can be reached at bvasoli@thebulletin.us
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